Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) shows that visitor arrivals to the Philippines reached nearly 4.9 million in the first 11 months of 2023, surpassing the government’s full-year goal of 4.8 million arrivals.
Excluding overseas Filipino arrivals, the country has recorded almost 4.5 million foreign visitor arrivals so far.
South Korea continues to be the top inbound tourist source, with nearly 1.3 million visitor arrivals recorded in the eleven months, representing 26.4 percent of the country’s total arrivals.
By source market, the United States was responsible for 16.6 percent of arrivals (808,781), followed by Japan with 5.7 percent (275,818), China with 5 percent (244,851), Australia with 4.7 percent (228,566), and Canada with 4.1 percent (198,608).
South Korea is the only source market that has had visitor arrivals of over 100,000 levels in a single month. This occurred in June with 116,414 visitors and continued throughout the rest of the year. In November, the county received 117,685 South Koreans.
In general, July has been the best month for Philippine tourism so far, with visitor arrivals reaching 516,304 in a month.
The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has temporarily suspended its e-visa application system in China due to the need for improvements. However, as reported by AGB, the suspension appears to have minimal repercussions for the gaming industry.
